The Washington critic., 1887-05-21
NEWS FROM THE FRONT.
Rough Experiences Of Correspondents
During the War.
WRITERS WHO WERE SOLDIERS.
Letters That We're Sometimes Written
Miles from the Field.

ocean, chad hard row to hoe during
the war. They were under orders to
write interesting letters whether cir.
cums,ances permitted or not, and those
who had any professional pride were
often placed In the most dangerous
situations under the most trying cir.
cumstances. Much to their regret,
they were often placed SO that 1t was
absolutely impossible to write about an
engagement or battle which they had
been sent to describe. If the CORE.
spondent had no professional pride,
or If he was man with little personal
courage and little honesty of purpose,
or man Of violent prejudice and
capricious temper, he was apt to resort
to questionable schemes to carry out
his instructions.
Sometimes correspondents were at.
tached to the personal staff of n subor-
dinate general and naturally they saw
battle from the standpoint of the gen.
eral who favored them. In scores OF
cases this class OF correspondents de,
scribed great battle, making the com.
mander of some division the hero of
the occasion. Nearly every soldier in
the army would recognize the injustice
of this, but 1t was accepted at home as
the truth. Such correspondents saw
only the fighting of the division to
which they were attached, and they
were prone to believe that the one dl.
vision did all the fighting that was
done on that day. They described
whatthey saw and often gave q column
10 division that did little or nothing
and paragraph to the remainder OF
the army tha, bore the brunt of a con-
test.
"There were other correspondents
who carried rifles or who held commits.
sions In the army, and who wrote as
soldiers, describing only the part that
their own commands played In the con-
test, speaking consclentiously, how.
ever, from hearsay, of the part played
by other regiments, brigades aud di.
visions. There were correspondents,
again, who had all the daring of the
most courageous soldier, who lived, as
1t were, on the skirmish line, and who,
having great freedom of action, were
now with the scouts, now with the
pickets, now at headquarters, and who
made 1t point to write history,
spiced, 1t may be, by personal adven,
ture and colored little by the circum.
stances under which they wrote. To
this class the general officers Of tho
army. and the country at large wero
greatly. indebted, because they did
write history.
II remember that just before the
battle of Stone River, riding by the
side of one of the corps commanders,
received the intimation from staff
officer that the left wing Of the army
would that night cross Stone River,
make night attack on Bragg's right
wing, and attempt the capture of Muir.
freesboro. 1t was then growing dark,
and left the group of officers to find
position with the brigade that was to
head the assault. l rode quietly along
the line and found the men Joking
| about the small fires that they were al
lowed to build to boil their coffee. The
order said that fires would be allowed
only for the purpose of cooking
coffee, and that as soon as the men had
the coffee the fires were to be put out.
There was not thought among those
men that they were TO make an attack
that night, and yet l knew that such
an order had been issued.
"While sat talking with an old
friend, thinking, possibly, that this
would be our last talk and nerving my
self up for the duty that felt would
call for all the courage ! possessed, q
staff officer rode along the line aud
recalled the order that had kept the
men In marching order. But, on the
theory that the attack would be made
by the left wing, remained with that
section of the army. On the morning
of the 31st Of December, when the
firing was heard on the right, two OF
the correspondents volunteered to ride
over to McCook's headquarters. In
less than an hour we were In the mids
of battle confusion, our horses were
shot, my friend was wounded and ]
was separated until nearly dark from
the Union army as formed ON the CIV
line. l remembered, however, my
friend with whom / had talked few
evenings before, and l gathered from
him and from the men of several
brigades the information that enabled
me to write what the officers and mer
of the army pronounced one Of the bQs
descriptions Of the battle"
"At Chickamauga," said another
newspaper man, "the correspondents
had planned to stick pretty close to head
quarters, but In the rapid changes OF
the first day and in the confusion OF
the second day we lost our moorings
remember at one time the only mar
who remained at corps headquarters OF
what had been the left was a correspon
dent who fancied that he was filing
the bill for courage because he stoot
by the corps flags All the regiments
belonging TO the command had beer
ordered to different positions, had beer
sent to re.enforce this division or that
and the corps commander was virtually
without command. In one Of thu
fierce waves of conflict that swept ovel
the field this correspondent was carried
TO the rear and from the rear he wrote
graphic description Of the battle OF
that day.
"He talked, of course, with strag.
glers Interested in magnifying the dis
aster SO that they might present an ex,
cuse for their own retreat, with fright
encd teamsters who had disobeyed or
ders and ran away In panic, will
wounded men aggrieved In their sore
1 distress at what they believed was thu
mlsmanagement of their ollicers-h,
listened TO all these stories and his de
script!on was Of battle that neve
took place, but It was accepted as dc
scription of the battle of Chickamauga
and when the history of that engage
ment was written, people at home wer,
sorely puzzled by the contradictions il
statement.
Il went on the field with two mel
as capable as myself of doing goot
work. When my horse was woun dee
l took rifle and Joined company II
which l had several acquaintances, l
was my good fortune to see good dea